The present invention relates to circuits for controlling kitchen appliances such as toaster ovens and toaster oven/broilers, and more particularly to a circuit including a pilot light which is continuously illuminated when the device is operating in a toast, oven or broiler mode.
Toaster oven/broiler devices are well known in the art and provide, in a single appliance, the capability of toasting, broiling, warming and baking. It has long been the practice to provide some form of indicator for visually indicating to the operator that the heating coils of the device are being energized. The indicator has taken many forms, i.e. a pilot light or the position of a switch, or both. For example, toaster-oven/broiler devices have been provided wherein a pilot light is continuously energized during the oven or broiler mode even though thermostat contacts interrupt energization of the heating elements. However, these devices, as shown in accompanying FIG. 1, do not energize the pilot light during the toast mode but instead rely on the position of a toast switch or lever to provide an indication that no power is being applied.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,302,660 and 4,189,632 to Swanson et al. disclose a toaster oven wherein a protrusion on a selector dial cooperates with an "off" marking on the cabinet to indicate that no power is being applied to the device. In addition, a pilot light is provided which is energized only when the heating elements are energized. At the end of a toast cycle a thermal timer deenergizes both the heating elements and the pilot light even though power is still being applied to the device through the power switch. In like manner, thermostat contacts intermittently open during the oven mode to deenergize both the heating elements and the pilot light.
Toaster-oven devices having indicators of the type described above fail to meet the soon-to-be-effective standard of Underwriters Laboratories, Inc. which provides that toaster ovens or toaster oven/broilers shall have a power-on indicator in the form of an illuminated switch or pilot light which remains on during any operating condition including the cycling of any thermostat. The standard specifically indicates that an on/off switch position marking alone is unacceptable.